Poll: Many Oppose Meatpacker's Threat

February 13, 1990|By ANDY PARKER Staff Writer

More than 70 percent of Virginians responding to a recent poll believe Smithfield Foods Inc. should be forced to meet the state's tough new phosphorus discharge limits, despite the the company's threat to leave the state.

The Commonwealth Poll, established in 1986 to poll Virginians about significant state issues three to four times each year, was conducted this month by Virginia Commonwealth University's Survey Research Laboratory.

Seventy-one percent of the poll's 805 randomly selected telephone respondents said Smithfield Foods should not be granted an exception to the new phosphorus standards even if that meant the company moved its operation out of state, eliminating 3,000 jobs.

State Water Control Board officials are expected to announce this week an agreement with Smithfield Foods to keep the meatpacker in Virginia. The company has threatened to move to North Carolina if phosphorus standards are not relaxed.

The high level of opposition to the Smithfield Foods' threat to leave surprised Scott Keeter, director of the Survey Research Laboratory. "This particular finding is very surprising in that the company is well-known and well-loved across the state," said Keeter.

Keeter said the poll's revelation that a majority of Virginians favored maintaining the tougher regulations was not surprising given the increased level of interest in environmental issues in recent years. But Keeter said he was still "very surprised" at the overwhelming size of that majority.

The question on the poll presented the argument that "if the state grants Smithfield an exception, other companies may want exceptions made for them and the environment could suffer."

Thirteen percent of the poll's respondents thought an exception should be made for the company, 5 percent said a compromise should be found and 11 percent were undecided. The poll has a sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.